PEOPLE who have lost their hearing in early childhood might be able to recover it with a new form of therapy.

Research on rats conducted by an East China Normal University professor and the University of California has resulted in a radical new approach to deafness. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on October 2, suggests that certain types of childhood deafness might be able to be corrected.

There is a critical period after birth when the brain's structure and function are vulnerable to external influences.

Scientists have discovered that rats that are raised in a noisy environment during this period were found to suffer an impaired auditory cortex function which leads to degrees of deafness.

Zhou Xiaoming, professor at ECNU's college of life sciences, teamed up with Michael M. Merzenich of University of California to design a special program of intensive auditory training for adult rats.

After repeated training, the scientists found that the previously deaf rats were able to identify auditory stimuli. Their hearing recovered.

When the training was stopped, the hearing ability remained for at least two months.